Transcendent in Atlanta

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Sunday January 20, 2008 · 7:48 PM PST

2008/01/20 · 19:48

Tomorrow we all honor an American saint. Each Democratic candidate is issuing moving words commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and calling to mind our profound debt to him, and this diary is not meant to privilege the words of one candidate over those of others. In fact, as a way of remembering Dr. King, I encourage readers to post comments with their own remarks -- or remarks from other candidates, public figures, or fellow citizens -- that reflect on what his legacy means to us. But today in Atlanta, Obama gave what I believe to be a truly sublime speech in Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King spent many years as a pastor. An excerpt follows below, one that distills Obama's critical insight into the difficult -- yet exciting -- moment in which this country finds itself. No matter your preference this year, let us all be grateful that we have a leader speaking these words today.

Chichibabin

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Friday January 18, 2008 · 9:45 PM PST

2008/01/18 · 21:45

Do you sense it?

A tall, skinny Senator with a fondness for Lincoln -- a Senator whom the cynics mock and the young admire, whose self-effacing earnestness stands in contrast to the disingenuous and self-serving rhetoric of his competitors -- fends off the slime that the standard bearers of a status quo use to oil an entrenched political machine: slurs, more slurs, lies, more lies, and some willful distortion for good measure.

Chichibabin

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Monday January 14, 2008 · 7:33 AM PST

2008/01/14 · 07:33

In a stunning exchange on the PBS program Bill Moyers' Journal on Friday, the Stanford "race expert" and self-described free-market conservative Shelby Steele had this to say about Barack Obama:

BILL MOYERS: The subtitle of your book [Bound Man: Why America Is Excited about Obama and Why He Can't Win, 2007, Free Press], why we are excited about Obama. Are you excited about Obama?

SHELBY STEELE: Yes. Yeah. Actually, I am. Yes. ...

BILL MOYERS: But you go on to say why he can't win. Now, that would seem to suggest you don't think he can become President.

SHELBY STEELE: My gut feeling is that he's going to have a difficulty-- a difficult time doing that. The reason I think is that we don't yet know him. We don't yet quite know. What his deep abiding convictions are. And he seems to have, you know, almost in a sense kept them concealed. And a part of the I think infatuation with Obama is because he's something of an invisible man. He's a kind of a projection screen. And you sort of see more your — the better side of yourself when you look at Obama than you see actually Barack Obama.

Chichibabin

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Friday January 11, 2008 · 2:29 PM PST

2008/01/11 · 14:29

Dear Senators Clinton, Edwards, and Obama:

Please take the time this evening to mark today's shameful anniversary: the sixth year of the detention camps at Guantanamo Bay. And mark it by calling on President Bush to close them down. Now.

We know you are busy, and we respect that each of you has spoken out against this stain on our national values. You have pledged to close it upon taking office. But this is not enough. We cannot afford to wait another year as its detainees -- whose guilt has not been proven, whose abduction and incarceration violate international law -- suffer and persist as symbols of American cruelty and hypocrisy.

Chichibabin

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Monday November 26, 2007 · 1:55 PM PST

2007/11/26 · 13:55

In 2002 and early 2003, like hundreds of thousands of others, I protested against the then-imminent invasion of Iraq in New York and Washington, DC. It was clear to my family and friends that the war was impulsive and driven by ulterior motives; that it had not been thought-through; that its consequences would be devastating and far-reaching. We weighed the moral implications of preemptive war, which presupposes that an American life is worth more than any other; the possible threat of a nuclear-armed Saddam Hussein; the history of Western colonialism and occupation in the Middle East. We tried to consider every angle and debate each position. Millions of real lives were at stake. And time and again, we emerged from our deliberations convinced that war, in this case, was utter folly -- and convinced that our decision to speak out in protest would prove the truest reflection of our judgment, our patriotism, and our values.

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Transcendent in Atlanta

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Barack Obama: "Invisible Man"?

Open letter to Hillary, John, Barack: NO TO GITMO

Why I've never been undecided in this race